BOTTLE ROCKET FIRE
Grand Junction fire investigators say a small fire on the roof of a home last night was caused by a bottle rocket. The firework lit the swamp cooler cover on fire and crews put it out right away. Fireworks that go up in the air are illegal and investigators are looking for whoever was responsible for last night's damage.
GUNNISON CO FIRES
3 wildfires in Gunnison County over the weekend are contained after burning more than 200 acres total, and a new fire is reported in the North Fork of Little Henderson Creek, about 7 miles north of Highway 133. The Montrose Interagency Fire Management Unit says no structures are threatened in the 50 to 60 acre Little Henderson Fire burning on both private and National Forest Service land.
MURDER-FOR-HIRE
A 45 year old Grand Junction woman is jailed on suspicion of trying to poison her husband to collect on his retirement. Police say they began investigating Deone Marie Graham after a witness told police Graham asked to buy illegal drugs with the intent of poisoning her husband. Graham was arrested last Friday and is being held without bond.
FORMER POLICE OFFICER SEX ASSAULT CHARGES
A former Grand Junction police officer and firefighter is free on $25,000 bond after being arrested Friday on suspicion of sexual assault on a child. 42 year old Eric Janusz had been under investigation since a woman came forward last fall and said the assaults had occurred when she was a juvenile. Janusz was a patrol officer from 1996 to 2006 when he was hired by the fire department. He left the City in February in a workers’ compensation separation after an on-the-job injury.
LAWYER TRIAL
Jury selection begins today for a state trooper accused of killing a man in his home during a crash investigation. 31 year old Jason Kemp was shot to death by Trooper Gene Lawyer in July 2010. A grand Jury indicted Lawyer in October of that year on four felony counts including criminally negligent homicide, 2nd-degree assault, illegal discharge of a firearm and 1st degree criminal trespass.
FATAL CRASH
A 21 year old man who died in a crash at I-70 B and F-Road was an Air Force Academy Cadet from Tennessee. The State Patrol says all 3 men in a car that was hit by a semi early Saturday morning were cadets at the academy in Colorado Springs, and were returning home from a concert in Grand Junction when their car was hit. The driver was uninjured and a second passenger suffered minior injuries. Investigators say drugs, alcohol and speed are NOT considered factors in the crash.
GAS PRICES
The price of gasoline in Colorado is 49 cents a gallon higher than last month, and a 4.1 cent/gallon hike last week puts the average at $3.83 a gallon. The national average is $3.91 having climbed less than half as much as Colorado's average in the past month.
